Broken Day
by TheRedScreech
Summary: It was supposed to be a good day. When an earthquake strikes Jump City, the Teen Titans are tested to their limits. Rated T for violence and death. Disclaimer: I own nothing.
1. Chapter 1

**Broken Day**

 _Chapter 1_

Beast Boy had to trot to keep up with his friends but he didn't mind. It was June, finally, and the last of May's rainstorms had tapered off and gone, leaving only bright, blue skies, sunshine and greenery. Inhaling brought the scents of grass and flowers, and his keen ears picked up the birdsong two blocks away in the park they were heading for. It was Starfire who had suggested yesterday that they have lunch in the park (and walk there!) and now she and Robin carried the loaded picnic basket between them while Cyborg had the checkered blanket over one shoulder. Raven was reading and walking at the same time, though her hood was down. Beast Boy thought she was probably hot under that heavy cloak but he didn't dare say anything to the empath. Instead, he hummed to himself, bringing up the rear of the group.

The Teen Titans received smiles and 'Hellos' from just about everyone they saw, the nice weather making people happier. Beast Boy couldn't help but grin when children, with their parents in tow, came right up to their favourite Titan (mostly Robin) to say hi. The more daring asked for autographs and so the group's progress slowed to a crawl as they tried to make their way through the gathering crowd.

Robin got most of the attention but because Starfire was right next to him, she got a good chunk of it, too, and Cy was always up for putting a smile on a kid's face. But then Beast Boy spotted a little girl with an afro of black hair that reminded him of Bumblebee and she inched closer and closer to a certain blue-cloaked Titan who had yet to get her nose out of her book.

"Hey, Rae," BB said with a nudge in her side. "Incoming."

Raven pulled out of her book and looked up with consternation. "What?"

Right then, however, the little girl was in front of them and quietly said, "Um, excuse me? Titan Raven?"

BB watched in growing amusement as the stoic girl looked down into wide and nervous eyes. "Yes?" she said slowly.

The poor kid twisted her hands together and suddenly looked at her shoes. "Um. Hi."

Beast Boy snickered into his hand and nudged Raven again who glared at him. With one finger to keep her place, she closed the book and squatted down. The smile she offered was as rare as it was unsure and it made the green Titan grin.

"Hello," Raven said kindly. Then: "What's your name?"

"Alexa. I'm six. My daddy calls my Aly." She pointed to a tall man whose broad features and kind, black eyes made BB think of a massive teddy bear.

Raven nodded to the man and returned to the girl. "Well, Alexa, are you having a good day?"

Tight, black curls bounced in the positive. "Uh huh."

"That's very good. You keep having good days, okay?"

"Okay!" Alexa smiled, wide and toothily, and ran back to her dad, waving her arms and pointing in their direction. Beast Boy could hear her excited chatter over the din of the crowd.

"You know, Rae," he commented idly as the people began to disperse a bit. "You're quite good with kids."

Raven pulled up her hood but not before he saw her face flush. "Shut up," she growled.

BB beamed at her but then felt his smile freeze on his face as something instinctual kicked up an alarm. Something wasn't right.

"Beast Boy?" Cyborg asked, noticing the youngest Titan's behaviour.

He crouched, placing one hand on the ground, his ears swivelling. Across the park and up and down the street, birds shrieked and dogs barked, sensing what he had.

"B…?"

"Earthquake," he rasped. Then louder, shouting to his friends and the civilians: "EARTHQUAKE!"

Everyone stilled at the word and it was eerily silent for three seconds, even the animals. Then it hit. The entire ground bucked beneath them, buildings swayed dangerously, and people stumbled as they tried to stay upright, clutching children, pets and each other. Everyone screamed. Starfire and Raven shot into the air to escape, grabbing Cyborg and Robin respectively. Beast Boy should follow. He should shift and fly up to join them but his senses pounded, overwhelming him. Terror and panic punched into his nostrils while his ears rang with screaming. He clutched his head, trying to drive out the noise.

Then, over the roar of shattering asphalt and concrete, and of terrified people, the young hero heard a very different cry: "Mommy, Mommy!"

He didn't have to scan the chaos for the source because his hearing already told him where to look. The boy, thirty yards away, was on his hands and knees on the roiling ground, eyes squeezed shut.

"Beast Boy!"

Something groaned, creaking, buckling. Beast Boy didn't notice as he shifted and leaped forward at the same time. The lithe, green cheetah weaved through the filling streets as people escaped the nearby buildings that threatened to crumble.

"Beast Boy, stop!"

He didn't hear. He lunged, landing on the boy and shifting again just as a dark shadow fell on them, and he knew no more.

-:-:-:-

It was still another four minutes before the earthquake ended. Four agonising minutes for four heroes who couldn't understand what was happening to their city, their people and their friend.

The Titans had swooped down from their place of safety in the air to redirect collapsing buildings and gather stragglers. When the four minutes were over, several edifices were down, glass, concrete and steel graveyards in their places, and the beautiful day was broken.

When the last of the tremors were gone, Raven landed and her violet eyes were massive in her pale face as she stared at the spot where Beast Boy had been, now only the destroyed remains of a three-story building.

 _Beast Boy…_

Raven's hood fell back when someone grabbed her, screaming into her face, "Help us, help us!" She wrapped the terrified woman in her magic and lifted her away, setting her down on an intact part of the curb. Taking off her cloak, she draped the fabric over her shoulders and laid her hands on her head, healing the shock.

"Take deep breaths and don't move," the empath ordered firmly before grabbing a young man who didn't look harmed. "Stay with her, do you understand?"

The man, who was only a few years older than her, swallowed and nodded mutely, sitting down and tentatively wrapping an arm around the older woman.

Curling her arms over her chest, Raven walked away to where Robin quietly hushed a group of small children and their parents.

"Raven, you're on medic detail until the ambulances arrive," her leader ordered once he spotted her. "Use your magic sparingly. Cyborg will help you, covering that half of the street. Here." He handed her three markers. "Green is stable, red is critical, black is dead. It'll help the responders when they get here."

 _If they do get here_ , Raven thought distantly, her fingers trembling as she took the felts. She didn't say it and turned away. She used a lot of green in the first fifteen minutes and sat them in groups to look after the people smudged with red. She used her magic as much as she dared, taking care of only the most serious wounds. She moved swiftly: green, green, red, red, green, green, green, red, green, red, green, red...

Black and black.

Alexa and her father, half-crushed in the rubble.

Raven tried not to cry as she drew a black circle on their foreheads and continued on. Plumes of dust were settling, papers, leaves and tiny flecks of debris swirling towards the ground. She watched them for a moment, and now the tears came. Trickling down her cheeks, they mirrored the dust and papers and leaves in their fall.

"Raven?"

Cyborg. It was Cyborg. She could feel the energy coming off him, his own worry and fear and it gnawed at her.

"Come sit, Raven. You should sit."

A gently hand cupped her elbow but she withdrew sharply. "Let me work," she hissed, and black magic sparked out a nearby window, shattering it. "I need to work." Her voice cracked. She couldn't stop crying.

Cyborg turned his mismatched eyes on her, one red and the other dark brown. The human side of his face was wet. "Okay," he said. "My side of the street's done. I'm gonna help Star with getting the survivors outta the buildings, okay?"

"Beast Boy?" The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.

Cy nodded. "I've got all my scanners searching for signs of life. We'll find him."

Raven nodded back and the pair separated, he to the crumbled buildings, she to the street, and her tears kept falling.

-:-:-:-

It was a good thing that the Teen Titans consisted mostly of super-humans or aliens because they worked well through the afternoon and into the late evening. Fire, police and EMS arrived shortly before two, exhausted but determined to work; rescue dogs scoured through the destroyed streets and buildings, and became more and more discouraged as the day wore on. Smoke from fires in the east blanketed the entire city as the wind blew and made for difficult vision and breathing.

Robin was still working. His cape was gone, given to a teenager with a distraught grandparent, and his skin was a squeamish grey. Robin was not Tamraranian or half-metal or a demoness. All he had were his stubbornness and waning strength.

"Robin?" Starfire's soft voice drifted through his hazy vision while he leaned against a streetlamp for a bit. Just for a bit.

He smiled weakly at her. "Hey, Star."

"Robin, you must rest." Green eyes were earnest and fearful, though the voice held steady.

"Too much to do," he mumbled, stepping away from his support and swaying.

Warm arms caught him, steadying him. "You do too much already. You must rest. Please? Robin, please?"

He had done well so far to keep his emotions in check. He had dealt with loss, after all. He had dealt with catastrophes and chaos. But his best friend's tender tone made him blink and turn his head away.

"I have to keep going, Starfire," he said. "They need us."

Starfire hugged him. "Friend Robin, we need you, too."

"But…Beast Boy."

The name was a metric tonne between them and Robin had to look up into her face to see her reaction, to understand what she was feeling. He was horrified to see tears on those golden-orange cheeks. Stretching out his hand he wiped them away, only to leave bloody and sooty streaks.

Taking a shaky breath, Starfire said, "Friends Cyborg and Raven are still looking for him, just as they are looking for others who may have also survived. Beast Boy will understand that you need your rest, Robin. You are only human."

The last four words were knives to his gut but he knew she was right. There was a time and a place for everything, even rest. He'd been trained to know that or he risked an early death and whom would that help?

"Okay," he agreed at last. "I'll rest."

Starfire hugged him tighter, holding his head to her shoulder. "Thank you," she rasped.

He let her guide him to a triage centre that had been set up in an arena half a block away. There was devastation everywhere and he tried not to look at it. Tried not to look at the bodies laid out in rows, tried not to look at the exhaustion and defeat on every face around him, tried not to look at the rescue dogs who whined in confusion and sadness when all they found were the dead.

 _They think they're failing,_ Robin mused to himself. _They don't understand._

They entered the centre to controlled chaos. Babies and children cried, pets complained, adults demanded answers to questions like 'What about a tsunami?' 'What do you mean the entire east side is on fire?'

But there was no tsunami warning (thank goodness) and the east's fires were under control.

Starfire stopped a burly woman in a black jacket with the word MEDIC in large, white letters across her back. "Please," she said gently, "my friend is tired. Is there a bed?"

Robin watched dazedly as the medic's sharp, blue eyes fell on him. Whatever she had been about to say died and she smiled wanly. "For the Teen Titans, anything," she answered. "This way. We've a separate area for the First Responders."

Robin nodded mutely while Starfire sighed, "Thank you. Come, Robin." She pulled him along and the Boy Wonder stumbled to keep up.

"He has been going the non-stop since the quaking earth happened," Starfire explained to the medic. "He does too much."

"You can't fault him for it, dearie," was the kind reply. "We humans might not be as strong as you, but we have our own strengths. In our hearts," she explained when the girl looked at her quizzically. "Good people do good until they drop. That's just how we roll on Earth."

"I see." It was impossible to tell if the alien was being truthful or not. They had seen far too much bad, after all.

"Here." The woman showed them to a series of canvas tents, guarded by navy and army personnel. Robin didn't know when they had arrived but he was still grateful to see them. To a young sergeant, the medic said, "Make sure Robin is not disturbed for a few hours."

"Yes, ma'am" was the immediate response.

"Come, Robin." Starfire led him into a tent that already housed a handful of slumbering firefighters, and settled him down on a low cot. "Sleep, my friend. I will return later." Her smile shook as she pulled a blanket up to his chin.

He caught her hand before she left. "Thank you, Star," he whispered.

She kissed his forehead, intertwining their fingers for a prolonged moment. "Rest," she urged.

Robin didn't need anymore telling; his eyes closed and he was asleep in seconds.

-:-:-:-

Everything hurt. That was how Beast Boy knew he wasn't dead. He kept his eyes closed for the time being and fell back on his other senses. He heard a heartbeat nearby, slow and even, and quiet breathing that were not his. He smelled blood, sweat, dust, concrete and metal. He tasted blood in his mouth. He felt the rough asphalt beneath his large hands and feet, felt the weight of something across his shoulders (steel beam, concrete slab?), felt another something sharp dig into his back, and felt blood run down his side. He was wounded, hopefully not too seriously.

But what about the boy? He was alive, obviously, going by the heartbeat and breathing occurring just beneath his belly, but was he hurt? He couldn't smell the difference right now between his blood and the boy's. Maybe in a minute, when his head cleared.

He dared to open his eyes.

Blackness.

Not even a smidgeon of light. Not even his superb night vision helped in here. Wherever here was, though BB had a nasty suspicion that they were trapped under a collapsed building. A freaking miracle they hadn't been crushed.

Keeping an ear out for rescue and the other trained on the unconscious child beneath him, Beast Boy let his thoughts swirl to his friends. He hoped they were okay. They had to be okay. They were strong and fearless, even Robin who was just as human as he was but better in every way that mattered. BB's great head drooped with despair. He was always messing up somehow…

Cough, cough! A wheezy sound. "Mommy?"

BB huffed, tried to shift his weight to check on the boy but felt the weight resting painfully on his body shift in response, and he instantly stilled. There would be no shifting and no moving until that weight was gone, until they were rescued. Bracing himself against the floor and whatever hadn't turned them into pancakes, he lowered his head a bit more to check under him, sniffing for any sign of injury. He breathed with relief when there was none.

The boy couldn't see him in the pitch dark but he doubtlessly heard the animalistic noises, and touched the right foreleg of the furry mountain.

"Are you a dog?"

Beast Boy couldn't help but chuckle at the question – stress did it – and crooned softly. Small hands found his large muzzle and dragged through the thick fur along his neck, caressing up over his brow and feeling his massive ears.

"You're a big dog. Do you know where my mommy is?"

The Titan whined, hoping the kid would understand.

He did. Curling up between his forelegs, he stroked one of them. The soft touch soothed Beast Boy's nerves, his animal side reacting to it. He could count on one hand the number of times his teammates had petted him while he'd been in another shape. He guessed they'd felt uncomfortable because they had always looked horrified after realising what they'd done, had always apologised despite BB's attempts to explain that he enjoyed being touched without sounding too weird. He knew animals offered a level of comfort few humans (or aliens or cyborgs) could ever attain and so he had tried to offer it whenever his friends had been low with varying results, though none were positive for them. Now his comfort was being sought and now he was more than ready to give it.

He nudged the boy gently, whiffling through his hair and along his shoulders which produced sleepy giggles.

A hand rubbed his nose. "Good boy," the boy whispered. "You'll stay with me, right? You'll protect me, right?"

 _Right,_ Beast Boy vowed, nuzzling him. _I won't mess this up._

-:-

Please review.


	2. Chapter 2

**lizzybudd:** I do love me some disasters. ;) Beast Boy's my favourite, too, with Raven a close second. Thank you for reviewing!

 **Helpfulfred:** Yeah, I feel bad about Alexa and her dad. :( Thank you for reviewing!

 **Guest:** It could be... I'm hoping for a happy ending, too. Thank you for reviewing!

 **runner:** Thank you! I'm sorry you waited for so long. :/

 **Moving Mountains:** Thank you so much!

 **TMNT-Queen:** Aw, thank you! I haven't seen a single episode of 'Go' so any Teen Titans stuff I do will be based on the earlier 2000's show. :) I go out of my way to find BB-centered fics, and I've found a few gems: "Pet and Owner" by Thisisentertaining, "Moyo-Akili" by DwaejiTokki, and "Proof" by TropeOverdosed. Enjoy! :D

 **talishapeople:** Thank you very much! I apologise for my lateness in updating. :/

 **Slyside:** If you're looking for some good BB stuff, see TMNT-Queen's review response above. I recommended a few BB stories. Thank you very much for your comments. :D

 **Bahari Muziki:** Thank you! Here's your update. Please don't beg and cry! :)

 **Author's Note:** I am SO sorry. This will teach me to not post a random idea and not hammer out at least an understanding of where I would like to go. That's my bad. :( Anyway, thank you to all reviewers, followers, favouriters, and readers. Here is Chapter 2. I'm sorry again that it's been so long since I updated, but I hope you enjoy. :)

 _Chapter 2_

The sun slipped behind the ocean, setting the sky and water afire with pink and orange. The fumes from the under-control fires in the east added plumes of purple across the darkening sky, but such beauty was lost on Cyborg. Robin had returned an hour ago after a nap forced on him by Starfire, and a new round of First Responders and army guys had shown up around the same time, but Cyborg wasn't tired. His battery was at half-life so he still had another twelve hours before he absolutely had to recharge. Until then, he would keep working and keep an eye on his scanners which still showed no sign of Beast Boy. He refused to think about what that might mean – it could mean anything: smashed communicator, crushed BB, too much debris blocking the signal, crushed BB, crushed BB…

"Stop it!" he snarled under his breath, alarming the two firefighters beside him. "Sorry," he added to them. "Talkin' to myself."

One of them, with the nametag of C. Ryan on his coat's left breast, nodded stiffly and said, "Right."

The other, bearing the name A. Alvarez, looked at her partner and then up at Cyborg. "I have not seen Titan Beast Boy in the rescue efforts," she observed quietly.

Cyborg clenched his teeth as he hefted up a concrete slab. No one under it. His scanners were good only for detecting signs of life, not dead, and there were so many people still missing. Mothers screaming for their children, siblings for each other, friends, family, so many… "You won't for a while," he said bitingly. He set the slab down and turned away for another piece of debris.

A gloved hand caught his arm. A. Alvarez wasn't a small woman but there were still nine inches difference between them. To Cyborg, however, there was something bigger about the woman, something that made him feel as young as he truly was.

"Where is he?" There was something in her voice that assured Cyborg that she knew full-well that the missing Titan wasn't out for groceries.

Lifting a hand, not even looking, he pointed back up the block. He had moved farther and farther away from his best friend, knowing everybody needed help and only possessing two hands.

The hand on his arm tightened and tugged. "Where?"

Cyborg's processors lagged for a moment and then he answered, "Halfway down Fifth, by the café, east of the park. We…we were gonna have a picnic. Star wanted a picnic."

Alvarez patted his arm and took out her radio. "Chief, this is Alvarez. I've got an MIA Teen Titan on Fifth Avenue, east of the park, by Marcella's."

 _"_ _Copy that, Alvarez. We're stretched pretty thin up here already…"_

Cyborg clenched his hands into fists. Beast Boy…his best friend… They couldn't help him. No one could. He would be all alone…

"There was a kid," he whispered, his human eye widening with memory. "He was tryin' to get to a kid, a boy, blond hair."

Alvarez stared up at him for a second before saying, "Did you catch that, Chief?"

 _"_ _I sure did. Hang on a minute."_ The line disconnected for a bit while Cyborg hoped Chief issued orders. The radio crackled: _"All right. Alvarez, you and Ryan head up to Fifth. I'm sending Schneider and Reilly down. There'll be an S-and-R with a dog waiting for you, got it?"_

"Copy. Alvarez out. Thanks, Chief."

 _"_ _Thank me if we find 'em alive"_ was Chief's parting reply.

Alvarez looked up at Cyborg with determination. Dust, grime and sweat streaked her face and clothes and yet she was smiling. "Well, Cyborg, let's go. We've got stuff to do."

Cyborg nodded, still in shock that this, let alone today, was really happening, and opened a com channel to Robin.

-:-:-:-

As an empath, Raven felt everything. Meditation was crucial to keep from going insane or from losing control of her powers, and so Raven took a few minutes to hover cross-legged in a shadowed corner, to close her eyes and to whisper her mantra to herself.

 _Azarath Metrion Zinthos._

She sifted out and through the swirling, tangling masses of emotions that were both hers and everyone's. Panic, terror, fear, determination, hopelessness, sorrow, grief – milling, snarling things that poked and prodded at her mind and at each other.

 _Azarath Metrion Zinthos._

Relief! It stabbed through the mess and then got caught in it, writhing like an animal snared in a trap. Raven coaxed the trap into releasing its prize, and the emotion scampered away just as the medics did with the survivor newly recovered from the debris.

 _Azarath Metrion Zinthos._

It was gruelling work but it must be done, to keep from going insane, from losing control.

 _Azarath Metrion Zinthos._

"Raven?" She sensed the approach before the voice and didn't flinch. "Raven, we've got a team ready to search for Beast Boy."

 _Azarath Metri– Beast Boy._

Raven's eyes snapped open, ending her levitation, but she was quick enough that she got her feet under her, standing upright. Robin didn't look better for his nap, still pale and drawn, but he looked stalwart and resolute. She envied him that. And promptly squashed the unwanted emotion.

Robin nodded and continued. "I want you and Starfire to go down to the bay and work your way east and south. We want to clear the area of –"

"What?" Raven stared up at Robin unblinkingly. "I'm to do _what?_ "

"Pair up with Starfire and work." Robin's tone was firming.

She narrowed her eyes. "I can help find Beast Boy."

"I need you to help find _civilians_. There's a team already assembled to find Beast Boy. Cyborg's with them."

"That's not enough," Raven began but Robin cut her off.

"It will be. You're needed elsewhere."

"I cannot abandon him, Robin." Raven didn't shout but she felt Rage press against her mind; she held her back by force of will.

"You're not. You're doing your job as a hero. You cannot abandon that duty."

"But…Robin…he's my friend."

Robin sighed, softening. He touched her arm, saying, "He's my friend, too. But we can't…we can't do everything. This isn't some villain. This is bigger. I can't… It's bigger than all of us."

"All the more reason to work together and get Beast Boy out of there," Raven urged. "I want him _safe_."

"I know you do. I know you do. But, Raven…" He trailed off, to Raven's dismay and astonishment. Seeking better understanding, she cast her magic outward, feeling Robin from an empathic standpoint. Beneath the surety and resolution was a dark pool of doubt and grief. Robin was usually rattling off orders and encouragement. He was usually so sure. His bravado was a mask and Raven understood that he needed that mask. He needed to appear stalwart and resolute or else he would fall to pieces.

And Raven was not helping him maintain the façade.

Steeling herself and thrusting Rage back, she put her hand on top of Robin's bloodied and gloved one. "Keep me posted on Cyborg's progress."

Robin looked up at her and Raven could feel the hope and gratitude bleeding out of him. "I will," he whispered. "Thank you."

Raven nodded and turned away to find Starfire.

-:-

I'm sorry it's so short. Thank you for reading. Please review. :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Special Thanks** to **Aadya845** , **lizzybudd** , **Guest** , **Bahari Muzuki** , **Golem XIV** , **Vinystark** , **aimeegreenwood1** , **Silexwitch** , and **McDiggity**. Thank you all for your wonderful and kind reviews!

 **Author's Note:** Well, it was a long time in coming and I apologise profusely for it. Three chapters in fifteen months? I'll try very hard to never do that again. :( Thank you to all favouriters and followers and readers. I hope you enjoy the final chapter. An epilogue will follow...eventually.

 _Chapter 3_

"Titan Cyborg, I'm Hank Yensen." The Search and Rescue volunteer was grime-covered, though his hands were gloved as he took Cyborg's and shook it. "This here's Debbie." He gestured to a brown and white Boxer that stood at attention at Yensen's feet.

Cyborg knew better than to greet or pet a working dog, so he nodded and started talking. "It's good of you to help us," he began.

"What else are we supposed to do?" Yensen interjected with a grim smile. "We're here to work. Chief Lee said we've got a missing Titan?"

"Yeah. Beast Boy."

"The green, shapeshifting one? And he didn't get out?" Yensen glanced back at the collapsed building.

"Not if he has the kid with him," Cyborg said.

"Do we have an ID on the kid?"

"None so far," Alvarez put in. "All parents have been directed to the triage center. They've got Blues for that."

Yensen nodded. "Okay. Good. I don't suppose you have something we can use to track Beast Boy? If Debbie has a source scent…"

But Cyborg shook his head. "It's extremely unlikely we'll find B human," he said. "Any source is moot because his scent will have changed with his shifting."

Yensen's brow fell low but he nodded again. "Okay. Okay. Let's hope enough of that kid's scent comes through. Maybe Deb can fix on that instead. All right, Debbie." He led the Boxer over to the building and unclipped her leash. "Search."

Debbie leaped up onto the rubble, casting around in the crags and crevices among the concrete. Cyborg initiated a scan, hoping that now he was closer he'd be able to get a reading.

His hopes plummeted at the negative blip.

But then Debbie sat down, and Yensen, Alvarez, Ryan, and Cyborg smiled.

-:-:-:-

Pain. Pain, pain, pain. It was everywhere: in his back, his shoulders, his legs, knees, and hips, his arms, and his bladder. Sharp aches and dull throbs mixed into a persistent and ceaseless agony that rippled like aftershocks through his body. The boy beneath Beast Boy's belly had already wet himself, unable to hold it any longer. The stench was awful and BB refused to add to it.

Hours. They had been stuck for hours. Trapped and in the dark and very much alone. BB could only do so much to comfort the child, and had been forced to watch him dissolve into tears and hiccups that exhausted him. The boy (BB wished he knew his name!) was asleep again, curled into a ball, one hand clutching the fur on BB's left foreleg.

Beast Boy crooned a few notes but the dust was thick and his throat was dry. He coughed, the great slab perched across his back shuddering in time with his body. He squeezed his eyes shut.

He couldn't do this. Everything hurt. The pain was too great. He couldn't do it anymore. His heart thudded against his ribs, protesting death, and a couple tears slid down his furry cheeks. He didn't want to die. He didn't want to give up and he definitely didn't want to be the one who gave up on _a kid_.

And yet…

Beast Boy whimpered, gritted his teeth, and forced himself to not relax. Every muscle, already tense and strained, trembled with his resolve and then _held_. He would not die today. He would not let a kid die today. No how. No way.

Above his head, something stirred, sending dust fluttering to the ground. He sneezed, the kid woke up crying, and a dog barked.

A…dog…?

A dog! More importantly, a search and rescue dog! Rescue was coming! They would live! They would both live!

Beast Boy chuffed, nuzzling what he could reach of the boy.

He lifted his head, clutching his fur tightly (ow, ow, ow!), and sobbed. "Mommy, Mommy! I want Mommy!"

BB knew that want with a keen intimacy but he forced back harsh memories with a low growl. That got the kid's attention.

"What? What is it, boy? What's wrong?"

BB cocked an ear, desperate, and…yes! The dog was louder now! Quiet scuffs danced above their heads!

His euphoria derailed at a single thought: they were coming down on top of them.

There was no way Beast Boy could handle much more weight. If rescue was coming, and it was, then whoever it was could very well accidentally kill them.

The snarl fell out of his mouth unbidden, the instinct to _protect, protect, protect_ raging against his mind, urging his body to defend the helpless cub beneath his belly.

The dog whined and the shuffling overhead ceased.

-:-:-:-

Cyborg wasn't at all sure that the humans had heard the quiet, muffled snarl that floated up from somewhere beneath the debris; his audio receptors were much better than an average human's, and so was a dog's. Debbie whined, her head and haunches down. She actually scuttled backward and Yensen barely managed to grab her collar.

"What's wrong, girl? What is it?" he asked, as if she could understand and answer.

But Cyborg had heard the snarl, too, and knew what it was. "Back off, guys," he ordered the team. "BB's down there and he's angry."

"Angry? What?" Ryan demanded. "We're trying to rescue him!"

"I understand that, but B's not human right now." There was no other way to explain that he recognised the snarling animal, except for: "He's really, very not human, so we need to respect his instincts right now."

"So he's, what? A dog?"

Cyborg sighed and made a decision. "Not…really. If I'm right, it's kind of like a base form – it's all instinct. It's not even a conscious shift. I've only seen this shape twice and I've known him for years."

"Not a conscious shift?" echoed Alvarez, stepping away.

"It only happens when B thinks someone is in serious trouble, and I'm talking life or death. We've rarely been in situations when we haven't been able to come up with some kind of plan. BB's instinct form is a reaction to absolute helplessness and the need to protect."

"Like a kid in the way of a falling building," Ryan murmured, eyes wide.

"Like," said Cyborg. "The problem is that we don't know why he's upset. The kid might be dead already and so he's protecting the body, or he might perceive us as a possible threat."

"And there's no way to tell him we're here to help," said Yensen.

Cyborg frowned and thought hard. There had to be a way. Some way…

He smacked his forehead with a palm. "I am such an idiot!" Scrambling over to where Debbie had been digging, he knelt and called down, "B? Beast Boy? It's me. It's Cyborg. Can you hear me?"

There was silence for perhaps two seconds, and then a quiet yip answered him. Cyborg didn't hear Debbie whine because his heart nearly burst with relief. His best friend was alive, conscious, and aware. He bowed his head for a brief moment.

"Can you really hear him?" Alvarez ventured.

"My audio receptors are keen," Cyborg replied absently. To B, he said, "Is the kid alive, B?"

Another affirmative yip.

"Are you okay? Are you both okay?"

This time, Beast Boy moaned. No. No, they were not okay.

"We're coming to you, B. Do you understand? We're coming."

BB snarled. A warning, a promise. Cyborg stiffened in surprise. Beast Boy…didn't want to be rescued? Why?

"Okay. Okay, B, I got it. Don't worry. You sit tight, okay? You hang on." Cyborg sat back on his heels and flipped open the panel on his right arm. Changing the forefinger on his left hand to a tool, he dug into the wiring, manipulating, changing, hoping…

"What are you doing?" asked Ryan.

"I'm recalibrating my sonic cannon. If I get this right, I can send an energy blast downward that might help us pinpoint exactly where they are. Don't know why I didn't think of this before," he added in a grumble.

"Like sonar!" Yensen exclaimed.

"More like geophysics, but yeah."

Everyone around him was still and silent as Cyborg worked, his fingers and sparks flying.

"Okay," Cyborg announced after a long moment. "I think… I think this will work." Pressing the barrel to the earth, he fired. The ground rippled for half a second, and then a happy chirp sounded through his sensors. He grinned down at the read-out of the Beast curled over a small bundle on the floor, and flipped open his communicator. "Robin. We got a location but we're gonna need help."

There was a tense pause before a relieved sigh came over the radio. _"Copy that. We're on our way."_

Closing the coms, Cyborg turned to the others to show them the results. "We got 'em," he said, smiling a mile wide. "We got 'em."

Alvarez peered closer and noticed the first problem. "Sweet stars, we're right on top of them!"

Ryan noticed the second. "Is he…is he holding up concrete?"

Cyborg's grin faded rapidly to a scowl of determination. "New plan, guys. We come at this from the side," he said just as Robin, Starfire, and Raven arrived.

"Or," said Raven, her eyes more white than violet, "you give me the exact coordinates and I'll get them."

-:-:-:-

Despite what a lot of people, including her teammates, thought, passing through solid objects took a lot of energy. Raven could have tried to find Beast Boy and the child by phasing in and out of the rubble, but that would have exhausted her within minutes; and getting stuck halfway through concrete and rebar would kill anyone, even a demoness.

But with a location, all Raven had to do was conjure up her magic and sink into the ground.

-:-:-:-

Hold on. Don't let go. Don't you dare let go. Hold on.

Beast Boy filled his mind with commands, most of them in Robin's voice because no one disobeyed Robin. He wanted to let go…but the boy. The boy still snuggled his leg, held onto his fur with hands that trembled while he slept. If he could hold on, so could Beast Boy.

He had to.

 _Beast Boy._ Power brushed against him – a warning of approach – and B shut his eyes in time to avoid the sudden illumination from the white-edged, black magic that burst from the ceiling directly above him. Blinking fiercely against the glare, BB looked up at the smiling face in the middle of the portal.

Raven.

"Hi, Beast Boy. Are you all right?"

He whined, trying to keep his brain from spilling all his emotions into Raven's empathic senses. He forced Robin's voice back into its loop: Don't let go. Hold on. Hold on.

Her smile faltered, grim determination replacing it. "Do you have the boy?"

BB huffed and tipped his head in the floor's direction. Raven nodded and disappeared back into the ceiling, only to reappear in front of him. Her hands glowed as she touched the boy, dragging him carefully out from under Beast Boy. He woke up at the touch.

"Mommy?" he whimpered.

"I'll take you to her," Raven promised. She met B's eyes and an emotion too quick for him to catch darted across her face. "Beast Boy? I'm going to get us out of here, okay? Don't shift. Don't move. Got it?"

B nodded. He had never travelled with Raven through her portals as an animal before, let alone in his primal form. He didn't know what to expect – he didn't know how the Beast would react. But Raven didn't seem to care that he could hurt her if he panicked because, holding the boy's hand, she lifted her other and enveloped them in blackness.

It was a nicer blackness than the concrete prison.

The feeling of fresh air on his fur almost made him cry, and then the magic evaporated, and with the terrible weight gone from his back, BB allowed his trembling and spasming muscles to relax. He slumped to the ground, at last shedding the Beast's shape, and closed his eyes.

"Beast Boy!"

Cyborg.

He sniffed. And Robin and Starfire, too, were here. His friends. He was safe. It was all okay now.

-:-:-:-

Cyborg carried Beast Boy to the triage centre – after he had shifted to a dog and peed on an overturned mailbox. BB no longer bled, but his uniform was torn and bloodied from where the concrete had dug into him; his back, shoulders, hands and feet all dark purple with bruises. BB wasn't unconscious, but he shook, his tense muscles protesting, and silent tears tracked down his cheeks.

"It's okay now, B," Cyborg soothed.

-:-

Thank you for reading! Please review. :)


	4. Epilogue

**Special Thanks** to **Silexwitch** , **little miss jolie** , **thekunchild** , **FF8cerberus** , and **Knightmare713**. Thank you for your wonderful reviews! :D

 _Epilogue_

They wanted to stay with him. They needed to stay with him. Beast Boy was stable and bandaged, asleep as a dog in a corner of a First Responder's recovery tent. (He had refused to take a cot or commandeer a doctor for humans, allowing a veterinarian to stitch him up and bandage nearly every inch of him.) Robin stood with his teammates surrounding him, all watching their friend inhale and exhale, and the handful of men and women in the tent with them wondered if they should leave to give the young heroes some privacy.

"Robin," Raven ventured after a couple moments. "Robin, we should get back to work."

"Yes" was all Robin said, but he made no move to follow through.

A hand landed on his arm, and he looked into violet eyes. "He would want us to get back to work."

"We'll keep an eye on him," an exhausted paramedic said quietly. Heads around the tent bobbed in agreement.

Robin sighed, his smile small but there. "Thank you," he said, and he turned and led the remainder of his team out of the tent.

-:-:-:-

Beast Boy knew it was only a couple hours later when he awoke. He groaned, shifted, winced when the movement pulled at the stitches in his back, and sat up carefully, wincing again at his bruised paws. He wanted to sleep some more, but a sharp scent wafted through the air.

He knew that smell.

Hauling himself to all fours, he limped past the slumbering people on their cots.

"Where do you think you're going?" a soft voice groused.

BB froze and turned his head. A middle-aged fellow with wiry, black hair cropped short stared him down with keen black eyes. BB gulped and cocked his head, sniffing visibly.

"Smell something?"

B woofed quietly.

The paramedic, judging by his uniform, cast a glance at the other occupants in the tent before getting out of bed. "I promised your friends we'd watch you. If you're going somewhere, I'm following."

 _No, please,_ BB begged with his eyes. _Go back to bed._

But either he didn't understand or he ignored him. Waving a hand, he said, "Let's go then."

It took all Beast Boy had to not roll his eyes, and he had to wonder if Robin had made the pale human promise. Still, it was nice to have company, and having an adult in uniform might help pave the way for what he was about to do.

They weaved their way through the haphazard crowds of mats, blankets, sleeping people and animals, and equipment. Dogs lifted their heads and sniffed curiously as he walked by, but pursued no further, recognising BB's determination.

B followed the scent. It was everywhere, of course – fear, worry and grief permeated every air particle – but he had learned long ago to filter out the young from the old; and so he bee-lined his way through the triage centre to a cordoned off area with tents and doctors and a whole lot of people with guns.

"Authorised personnel only," said the private who stepped in their way. Her face was haggard with exhaustion, but her eyes were keen. The name O'Brian was above the pocket on her left breast.

The paramedic beside Beast Boy swallowed. "Right. Uh, my name's Jefferson. I'm a paramedic…"

"I don't care if you're the Pope," O'Brian ground out. "No one's allowed in here."

"What is this anyway?" Jefferson looked down at Beast Boy.

BB didn't look at him, his nostrils flaring and ears perked.

"Makeshift orphanage" was the terse reply. "We got minors up the yin-yang whose parents we can't find…or…have already found." She trailed off, her voice losing its anger.

Beast Boy whined, and O'Brian looked down at him for the first time.

"Uh, why is that dog green?"

"Oh! Right. Well, this is Beast Boy –" Jefferson started.

O'Brian gaped at him, stopping him. "The Teen Titan who saved a kid from a falling building? _That_ Beast Boy? Rumour has it he was holding up concrete for hours!"

BB huffed and dragged a bandaged paw over the floor. _It was nothing,_ he wanted to say, but shifting was out of the question for now.

She snapped to attention. "Forgive me, sir. I didn't know it was you. Are you supposed to watch him?" she added to Jefferson.

"Yeah. He smelled something clear across the centre and he led us here."

"Here?" O'Brian looked down again at Beast Boy. "What's wrong?"

 _If you let me in, I can show you._

"He seemed pretty determined to get here," Jefferson added.

"Right." O'Brian's brain worked quickly behind her eyes, and then she nodded. "Go to that tent first," she said, pointing. "Tell Lieutenant Bell that I okay'd you being here. You'll get a clip ID that tells us not to shoot you if we see you. Put it somewhere visible."

Jefferson nodded, Private O'Brian stepped out of the way, and they passed through.

Beast Boy accompanied Jefferson towards the tent set out in front of the others and kept an eye on the guardsmen milling around. He meant to follow him in, but that scent washed over him, sharper and fresher than ever. His paws carried him away from Jefferson towards the smell.

It came from so many tents, so many…but he knew where it was freshest, and he poked his head through the tent flap.

There.

He padded in, grateful that he had chosen a dog breed that was large yet renowned for its gentleness, especially towards children. He paused at a cot and rested his chin on the edge, huffing.

The little occupant hiccupped, caught during a hard cry, and rolled over. "Doggie?" she whispered.

Beast Boy wagged his tail, ignoring the splinters of pain stabbing across his back, and licked her tear-streaked cheek.

She giggled and petted his head, the sound waking a couple of the others. They were older, BB noticed, and he wondered if they were her siblings.

"Oh, wow! Is that a dog? He's huge!" A boy hopped out of bed and ran over. "Aw, he's hurt," he said suddenly, spotting the bandages wrapped around B's torso and feet. "Poor guy. Hey, Sierra, quit hogging him."

Sierra giggled again and sat up, sliding out of bed and onto the floor. "There," she said, smiling. "Now you can lie down."

Beast Boy woofed, the children laughed, and more kids woke up at the sounds.

-:-:-:-

When Raven trouped back into the triage centre with her friends for some well-deserved rest, she was immediately assaulted by an emotion that she hadn't felt in hours: happiness.

Snapping her head around, she stared in the direction it came from, wafting on the air like an aromatic candle.

"Raven?" Robin asked. "What's the matter?"

But Raven barely heard, drifting towards the source. So pure… So positive… It was intoxicating. It was coming from the cordoned-off area reserved for children who had lost parents or whose parents had yet to be found. She was absently aware of her friends shadowing her, their uneasy confusion flitting through her senses.

They were met at the perimeter by a smiling private. "Titans," she greeted warmly. "I suppose you're here for Beast Boy?"

"He's here?" Cyborg gaped. "He should be resting!"

"He is. Sort of. He's also helping." She gestured them in and took them to an open section between two tents. "There." She pointed, and Raven distinctly felt Robin's jaw drop.

Because there he was. A great, green English mastiff lay on his side, long tail thumping, as children of every size and age ran gentle hands over whatever they could reach of him. A familiar-looking fellow in a paramedic's uniform with a bright yellow card clipped to his jacket leaned casually against a tent pole, his legs crossed at the ankles.

"We had to move him out of the tent when it got too crowded," the private explained. "He's been really good about it, and the kids are careful with his injuries."

"He looks so happy!" Starfire gushed.

Raven drank in the emotions from children and teammate, feeling her exhaustion seep away.

"He doesn't seem to mind," said Robin. "He doesn't mind being petted."

"Why wouldn't he be?" The private glanced at them. "I don't know how his powers work, but I know animals. My sister's got a farm with plenty of animals. She's got a mutt who's got this ability to know when you're sad. Even if you're not crying, even if you're putting on your best face and no one else knows, she does. She comes right on over and crawls into your lap and sits there until she thinks you're feeling better."

She canted her head towards Beast Boy. "When he arrived, he was accompanied by that paramedic who said that he'd smelled something. Anyone want to bet on how quickly your friend found a little girl crying in her bed because she missed her mom?"

Raven smiled at her friends' smiles and drifted forward into the melee of children. Many fell silent as she approached, but a couple smiled up at her. She sat down beside Beast Boy, having a care for his wrapped paws. Reaching out, she stroked his neck.

He cracked open an eye at her and woofed, tail wagging harder.

She smiled down at him, her strokes rhythmic, and didn't say anything. She simply basked in the glow that was Beast Boy's emotions, all the brighter now that she was touching him.

And the children congregated once more, petting and cooing; and Robin, Cyborg and Starfire, too, drew close and settled around them, taking comfort at last from their friend.

End.

-:-

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